Spiral Jetty

contribution of environmental sculpture

...of Robert Smithson and others frequently have entailed large-scale alterations of the Earth’s surface; in one notable example, Smithson used earth-moving equipment to extend a rock and dirt spiral, 1,500 feet (460 m) long, into Great Salt Lake in Utah (Spiral Jetty; 1970). The Bulgarian-born artist Christo has involved large numbers of people in the...

discussed in biography

...of lakefront land at the Great Salt Lake in Utah, and, using hired contractors, he made a huge spiral extending 1,500 feet (460 metres) into the lake. This work, titled Spiral Jetty, can still be seen periodically, depending on the water level.